Guo Chuan became the first Chinese sailor to successfully complete a solo circumnavigation when he sailed his Class 40 across the finish line at the Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao.

Guo, 48, left his hometown on Nov. 18, 2012 and returned the morning of April 5, 2013, making his journey 137 days, 20 hours, 1 minute and 57 seconds long.

His voyage took him twice across the equator, around Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope and across the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans all in a row. He then crossed the Sund Strait of Indonesia to the South China Sea.

Guo has earned many “firsts,” including being the first professional offshore Chinese sailor, the first Olympic torchbearer to pass the torch by sailboat for the Beijing Games, and the first Chinese sailor to complete the Volvo Ocean Race in 2008-09. “With so few firsts left in this world it is an exciting day when we can celebrate a ‘World First,’” Dee Caffari says on her website of Guo.

The World Sailing Speed Record Council will review the results of Guo’s journey, and if approved, Guo will become the record holder for Class 40 circumnavigation.

After crossing the finish line, Guo jumped into the water and swam to his wife and two sons. “In comparison with 137 days, I find the last few hours particularly hard to withstand,” Xiao Li, Guo’s wife, says.

Guo speaks to the eager media and cheering fans. “I’m so on top of the world. It’s such an unbelievable moment. 137 days ago, I wouldn’t have imagined I could have a moment like this,” he says.

“I want to show my most profound gratitude to my family, my sponsors. But I’d like to say thank you to the wind as well. For the whole journey, wind is always accompanying me. It is fighting with me, it is driving me back home,” Guo says.

Now Viewing: Guo Chuan Completes Solo Circumnavigation

Les Salons du Multicoques is a small, but influential European multihull boat show held on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France in alternate years. This year it was held over a windblown, rainy weekend (April 18-22) in Lorient in Brittany next to a collection of massive submarine pens that date back to World War II. It didn't seem to me the show was very well attended, but all the builders I spoke to there had BIG smiles on their faces. As they explained it, this was a process of natural selection. Anyone willing to travel all the way to Lorient (it took me four hours by train from Paris to get there) and to come out in such grim weather HAD to be seriously interested in buying a boat.
"No tire-kickers here," they said.
And though I was, indeed, just a tire-kicker myself, I found plenty there to catch my interest.

Though it’s pretty easy to find an excuse to sail in the British Virgin Islands any month of the year, springtime is particularly appealing. The breeze is consistent; it’s hot-but-not-too-hot; the kids are out of school and the islands are hopping with things to see and do. Here are ten great BVI hot spots not to be missed. (Special thanks to TMM Yacht Charters for providing the beautiful boats).

There’s a basic injustice about the way sailors view the Virgin Islands. St Thomas and St John—the main U.S. Virgins— are well-known tourist and sailing destinations, while right next door, the British Virgin Islands draw sailors by the thousands to take advantage of the numerous charter companies based there. But what of the third set of Virgins—the islands of Culebra and Vieques off the east coast of Puerto Rico, known as the Spanish Virgins?

To us, they appeared ripe with opportunity—the road less travelled. If the British and U.S. Virgins offer an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life, perhaps the Spanish Virgins would be a less crowded alternative to the others. We thought we’d check them out this winter, so we arranged to charter a Hunter 45 from Sail Caribe (sailcaribe.com), based in Fajardo on Puerto Rico’s east coast.

With me were Pip and Harry Nielsen and Tim and Jean Sheehy and their daughter, Megan, all raring to go after a few months of winter.

Each January, boatbuilders, equipment manufacturers and just about everyone else involved with the European leisure marine industry descends on the German city of Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, for the ten-Day Boot show. So do a quarter of a million boating enthusiasts from all over the world, eager to see the latest developments in boats, gear, clothing and anything else to do with waterborne recreation. Peter Nielsen was there.

Ahoy, all you salty rum-swizzling sailor people! I’m just back from a jaunt to the island of Barbados, where I learned a thing or two about how Mt. Gay rum gets made and also sailed in the Mt. Gay Round Barbados Race aboard a Farr 65. The race, I have to say, was just about the most exciting one I’ve ever participated in. We had an amazing finish!